A problem arises in digital FM radio receivers in that demodulated data may be superimposed on a DC level which is dependent on frequency differences between oscillators in the transmitter and receiver. The DC level will also be subject to drift with time and temperature. When a comparator is used to slice the demodulated data signal, which is usually almost sinusoidal for the highest frequency data pattern, considerable pulse stretching will occur as the slicing point on the data moves with DC level. AC coupling can be used with DC restoration but is always less than perfect and introduces a degree of timing jitter on the recovered data, particularly when the demodulated data contains amplitude variations which may be introduced as the data rate approaches the maximum obtainable from the channel bandwidth.
In a radio system where a number of transmitters and receivers communicate together on a network using frequency hopping, rapid switches in channel frequency and from transmit to receive are required. A conventional AFC system would be difficult to use in these circumstances as considerable time would be lost waiting for the system to recover after each frequency step or switch to receive function. Any AFC system used with digital modulation cannot respond to the average DC output level as this varies with data content and would produce a variable slicing level. Peak sensing of the data out could be used but this is also subject to variation as the channel limits are approached, as mentioned in the previous paragraph.